COE, George Albert 1862-1951

PERSONAL:

Born March 26, 1862, in Mendon, NY; died November 9, 1951, in Claremont, CA; son of George W. (a Methodist Episcopal minister) and Harriet (Van Voorhis) Coe; married Sadie E. Knowland (a professor of piano and music history), September 3, 1888 (died August 24, 1905). Education: University of Rochester, A.B., 1884; Boston University, S.T.B., 1887, A.M., 1888, Ph.D., 1891; attended University of Berlin, 1890.

CAREER:

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, teacher, 1887-91, professor of philosophy, 1891-93; Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, John Evans Professor of Philosophy of Religion, 1893-1909; Union Theological Seminary, New York, NY, professor of religious education and psychology of religion, 1909-22; Columbia University Teachers College, New York, NY, professor, 1922-27.

MEMBER:

Religious Education Association (founding member, 1903; president, 1909).

WRITINGS:

The Spiritual Life: Studies in the Science of Religion, Eaton & Mains (New York, NY), 1900.

The Religion of a Mature Mind, Fleming H. Revell (Chicago, IL), 1902.

Education in Religion and Morals, Fleming H. Revell (Chicago, IL), 1904.

Sadie Knowland Coe: A Chapter in a Life; October 9, 1864-August 24, 1905, privately printed (Alameda, CA), 1906.

(Editor, with Charles Foster Kent) Harold B. Hunting, The Story of Our Bible, Charles Scribner's Sons (New York, NY), 1915.

The Psychology of Religion, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1916.

A Social Theory of Religious Education, Charles Scribner's Sons (New York, NY), 1917.

Law and Freedom in the School: "Can and Cannot," "Must and Must Not," "Ought and Ought Not" in Pupils' Projects, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1924.

What Ails Our Youth, Charles Scribner's Sons (New York, NY), 1924.

The Motives of Men, Charles Scribner's Sons (New York, NY), 1928.

What Is Christian Education?, Charles Scribner's Sons (New York, NY), 1929.

Educating for Citizenship, Charles Scribner's Sons (New York, NY), 1932.

What Is Religious Education Doing to Our Conscience?, Charles Scribner's Sons (New York, NY), 1943.

Other writings include "A History of the Upsilon Chapter of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity," Upsilon Chapter, Psi Upsilon (New York), 1883; and "The Core of Good Teaching," Charles Scribner's Sons (New York, NY), 1912; coeditor of leaders' manual for Child Study and Child Training, by William Byron Forbush, Charles Scribner's Sons (New York, NY), 1915. Contributor to books, including Am I Getting an Education?, Doubleday, Doran (Garden City, NY), 1929; and Religion in Transition, edited by Vergilius Ferm, Allen & Unwin (London, England), 1937.

Coe's correspondence is housed in the Coe Collection, Yale Divinity School, Yale University, New Haven, CT.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Ferm, Vergilius, editor, Religion in Transition, Allen & Unwin (London, England), 1937.

Religious Leaders of America, 2nd edition, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1999.

PERIODICALS

Religion in Life, winter, 1952-53, H. Shelton Smith, "George Albert Coe: Revaluer of Values," pp. 46-57.

Religious Education, March-April, 1952.

OBITUARIES:

PERIODICALS

New York Times, November 10, 1951.*